Hi alktk. I would be happy to give you an idea of what the lease program is currently like on this van, however in order for me to do so I need you to tell me how long you want to lease it for and how many miles per year you need to be able to drive it. I can calculate a sample lease payment on the exact van that you are interested in for you as well, but to do that I need you to provide me with its full MSRP and an approximate selling price in addition to the aforementioned info.

You're welcome alktk. the selling prices that you were quoted on the 2005 models should be fine because you are able to purchase them through DaimlerChrysler's employee purchase program right now. Chrysler Financial's current buy rate lease money factor and residual value for a 36 month, 12,000 miles per year lease of a 2005 T&C Touring are currently .00163 and 51%, respectively. Its numbers for a 39 month lease of this van are much worse. Using the pricing information that you provided for the third van that you mentioned, an MSRP of $32,885 and a selling price of $27,751 if you were to lease this van using the aforementioned lease program, it would have a zero down, pre-tax monthly payment of around $378.

Hey topgun7. Here's the info that you are looking for. If you were to lease a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country Touring through Chrysler Financial right now for 36 months with 12,000 miles per year, its buy rate lease money factor and residual value should be .00282 and 52%, respectively. You actually might be better off leasnig this van for 39 months. Its 39 month lease program is a little more attractive at .00210 and 51%. When negotiating your lease on this van, keep in mind that DaimlerChrysler is providing $2,500 lease cash plus $1,500 bonus cash ($4,000 total) on it that will help you to negotiate an attractive capitalized cost.

I'm currently 15 months into a 36 month lease and I'm at 20,000 miles. I know I don't have much chance of reducing my driving to meet the requirement and I don't relish paying the big charges at the end of the lease. Could I purchase extra miles now or should I try to turn in early and start a new (15,000 mile per year)lease?? Do you think they would be willing to waive the mileage charge if I'm purchasing a used vehicle at the regular conclusion of the lease??Thanks for helping...

You have a few options, but buying more miles on your current lease is not possible.

1) keep driving and turn in at current rate, 48k miles and pay the mileage penalty (20c/mi? = $2400)

2) keep driving and turn in early. DCX often has lease pull ahead offers which take time, not mileage into account. So, you can turn in your vehicle at say 30 months, but you get to use the full 36k miles. That puts you at 4k miles over vs. 12k over for the full 36 mo.

3) Buy your vehicle at the end of the lease for the specified amount (or negotiate w/ finance company). You don't pay mileage penalties if you buy the vehicle at lease end.

4) Buy/lease another vehicle to save some miles on the current lease. Is a $2000 car good enough for 12k miles and still worth $1500 to sell later?

Hi aaron_t. If you are a DaimlerChrysler employee, the selling price for this van would be lower than if you were a normal consumer like the community member that I just worked up a lease for. I would be happy to calculate a lease payment on the exact Town & Country that you want if you tell me what its MSRP and employee purchase price are.

Hello tim34. Unfortunately, lessees are usually only given a discount for additional miles that they purchase for their lease at signing. Now that you've had your van for over a year you will probably have to pay full price for any additional miles that you need to purchase. Your excess mileage charge is completely between you and the bank that you are leasing your van through, which is probably Chrysler Financial. Dealers do not have the authority to waive any excess mileage penalty that you may have to pay, even if you purchase or lease a new vehicle from them. They may say that they will help you out with your mileage penalty, but in reality all they are doing is taking profit from your next deal to pay your penalty. This profit normally might be used as a discount.

You can avoid having to pay any excess mileage penalty by purchasing your van now, but I am sorry to say that it is usually fairly expensive to get out of leases well before their scheduled end dates. In order to do so, you need to purchase the vehicle that you are currently leasing from the bank that you are leasing it through. It often turns out that it costs more to do so than your vehicle is worth on the open market. Furthermore, many banks expect consumers who end their leases early to still make all, or at least the depreciation portion of their remaining lease payments. As you can see, this can get very expensive.

You can determine approximately how much it will cost you to get out of your current lease by comparing its purchase price to its value on the open market at this time. You should place a call to the bank that you are leasing your vehicle through to find out its exact price. Once you know exactly how much money it is going to cost you to buy your leased vehicle you need to compare it to its current value on the open market. You can find out approximately what your vehicle is worth by looking up its Edmunds.com True Market Value in the Used Vehicle Pricing section of this site. You also may want to stop by the following discussion: "Real-World Trade-In Values". One of our most knowledgeable community members, Terry, frequents that discussion and he is often kind enough to give community members who give him an accurate description of their vehicles with his opinion on their value. Don't forget to check to see if you are still on the hook for your remaining lease payments. The difference between your leased vehicle's current value and how much it will cost you to buy it plus any remaining lease payments that you are obligated to pay will equal the cost of getting out of your lease right now. You may find that you are better off waiting until you are closer to the scheduled end of your lease to get another new vehicle. If you are way over your allotted mileage then, you can always purchase your van and continue to drive it for a while.

The early lease termination option that the previous community member mentioned is an option, but DaimlerChrysler's current offer only waives four remaining lease payments and you have a lot more remaining than that. Plus, there is no guarantee that this sort of program will be available when you are actually able to take advantage of it.

In message 13, you mention "DaimlerChrysler's current offer only waives four remaining lease payments." Is this something that had to be written into the existing lease documents, or is it a "factory incentive program?"

Hi Everyone, I am looking to lease a minivan for minimal use, like 8000-10000 miles a year. It needs no amenities and I don't care about make or model. I qualify for top tier credit levels and of course will put nothing down. I am posting in the Chrysler board because they are selling the base model for $15000 in my local area, San Jose. How do the other minivans stack up based on residuals, incentives, money factors?

I've done searches on the message boards and can find little information on residuals and money factors except for Hondas. I will be leasing only, absolutely not buying.

A breakdown of minivans residual, mf's and incentives would rock. I don't care about miles so as long as I can do a relative comparison I'm happy. I know you live and breathe these boards Car_man so I'm hoping you are up to the challenge!

I'll give it a shot, pktrckt . The least expensive lease payment on a minivan that I have seen advertised this month was on the base 2006 Dodge Caravan (the short wheelbase model not the Grand Caravan). Generally speaking, the Caravan is less expensive than the Town & Country. If I was in the market for an inexpensive minivan and didn't care about price or quality I would probably go that route. I suspect that the Ford Freestar and Chevrolet Uplander will be fairly inexpensive to lease, but I haven't seen any advertised lease payments on them lately. My two favorite vehicles in this segment are the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna, but they will cost more to lease than the Caravan will.

Let's take a look at these van's current lease programs (36 months, 15,000 miles per year):

Can you give me residual value or percent on 12k mile, 36 month lease on T & C Touring minivan with no additional options and money factor for excellent credit score? Any additional bonus lease cash right now? I can figure the rest.

Can you give me the current MF and residual on a Town & Country Touring lease? Assume 12,000 miles/year and 36 months. I know Chrysler sometimes has odd lease lengths (I've seen 27 months advertised), so if you see anything from 27-36 months I'd be interested in the difference between time periods.

Here you go, phred84044. If you were to lease a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country Touring through Chrysler financial right now for 36 months with 12,000 miles per year, its buy rate lease money factor and residual value should be .00181 and 51%, respectively. DaimlerChrysler is providing a total of $4,000 lease cash on this van right now. In addition to this money, dealers have the ability to earn up to an additional $1,000 dealer cash per unit if they meet certain criteria.

Greetings darthken. If you were to lease a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country Touring through Chrysler Financial right now for 36 months with 12,000 miles per year, its buy rate lease money factor and residual value should be .00181 and 51%, respectively. I haven't seen this van's 27 month lease program, but I can tell you that its 30 month money factor would be the same and its residual value would be 55%.

Any recommendations on dealers in Northern NJ? I don't have any good deals as of today. The best deal so far uses 38% residual value (36 months lease), which is not good % according to the posts here. Any help is appreciated.

My dealer gave me a quote of 27 months, 54% residual, and a .00148 Money factor with a payment of $503 on a Town & Country Limited with an MSRP of 38500, with a cap cost of 31194. He said payments on 36 month are actually higher, at $527. How does that sound?

Thanks fredg5. It's definitely very time consuming :surprise: . If you were to lease a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country Limited through DaimlerChrysler Financial right now for 36 months with 15,000 miles per year, its buy rate lease money factor and residual value should be .00222 and 45%, respectively. When negotiaging your lease on this car, make sure to take the total of $4,500 in cash incentives that are available on leases of it right now into account.

Can you please verify a lease payment, residual, and money factor for me? I used the Lease Calculator here at Edmunds.com and came up with a payment different from my dealer's, using the same numbers, by about $30/month (Dealer = 399/month - Mine = 358). The only thing that I did that maybe I shouldn't have was leave the "title, registration, other costs" blank as I will take care of title and registration at the DMV myself and the dealer said there were no other fees other than what I have below. I appreciate your assisstance:

I'd be happy to help you out, woodhout. I am not sure, but I believe that the Town & Country Spring Edition has the same lease program as the Ttouring model. If you were to lease a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country touring 2WD through Chrysler Financial right now for 30 months (I have not seen its 27 month lease program) with 12,000 miles per year, its buy rate lease money factor and residual value should be .00175 and 53%, respectively. Using these numbers, an MSRP of $33,965, and a selling price of $25,678(#30,178 - $4,500), I estimate that this van should have a zero down, pre-tax monthly payment of around $333.